Surface treatment by means of pulsed laser beams in reactive atmospheres is an attractive technique to enhance the surface features, such as corrosion and wear resistance or the hardness. Many carbides and nitrides play an important role for technological applications, requiring the mentioned property improvements. Here we present a new promising fast, flexible and clean technique for a direct laser synthesis of carbide and nitride surface films by short pulsed laser irradiation in reactive atmospheres (e.g. methane, nitrogen). The corresponding material is treated by short intense laser pulses involving plasma formation just above the irradiated surface. Gas‐Plasma‐Surface reactions lead to a fast incorporation of the gas species into the material and subsequently the desired coating formation if the treatment parameters are chosen properly. A number of laser types have been used for that (Excimer Laser, Nd:YAG, Ti:sapphire, Free Electron Laser) and a number of different nitride and carbide films have been successfully produced. The mechanisms and some examples will be presented for Fe treated in nitrogen and Si irradiated in methane. © 2004 American Institute of Physics